In 2011, the former Dynasty actor Catherine Oxenberg and her 19-year-old daughter India took a course from the self-help organisation Nxivm (pronounced Nexium). It was a pivotal experience for India as she had been struggling to find a career and Nxivm seemed to offer her purpose. She ended up working for them as a coach and moving away from her mother. What India didn’t know was that Nxivm was in fact a dangerous cult. Eventually she would be trapped in a secret subgroup, which was really a sex-trafficking ring operated by the cult leader, Keith Raniere.

This episode is part of Cult Behaviour, a mini-series from Outlook exploring how a cult can manipulate a person’s sense of reality, and what it can take to break free. Radio listeners, if you are searching for the combined podcast version of India and Catherine’s interview – this is it.

Presenter: Saskia Edwards

Producers: Saskia Edwards, Maryam Maruf

Music: Joel Cox

Picture: Catherine and India Oxenberg, with Catherine's mother Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia on the left

Credit: Courtesy Starz Entertainment